Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1887-12-31
MILLIONS OF SILVER DOLLARS.
Description Of the MansmaOeh New silver
Voult In the Treasury Building.

vsuis In the Treasury building.
MIGHT 81 ENTERED, AND WHAT BURGLAR nIeHr
KxPEcT-How TEE SILVER WILL 81 sToRED-A vTsr7
TO THE CELIA
There are three ways In which an experienced
] burglar might enter the new silver vault In the
Treasury building and help himself TO the millions
OF shining silver dollars that viii soon be stored
| there. There are three ways In which this might
be done, but they are by no means easy methods
| TO pu,sue. In the frst place, one might pass
through the building, into the north court yard.
and then, by digging through about feet OF earth,
two more OF the hardest asphalt ever laid in WASH
ington, and finally through another foot OF brick
arches. he would then be In fair way to obtain q
ifew-comparatively a very few coins-and he
might, 0y the merest accident, escape with them.
the SECOND way would be to begin 70 dig outside
| such as down On the hats or thereabouts, and by
skillful engineering and much hard labor, tunnel
| foundation walls and try to bob up in the
vicinity OF the court, when It would be necessary
TO pierce feet OF concrete before the vault could
past, and so the determined burglar would proba-
| bly, turn his attention TO . more legitimnte en-
is built in such way that nothing bu: dynamite
or some kindred substance can possibly make any
| impression upon its stability, and In view Of the
vaults Is not at all likely that the millions to be
stored In this vault viii ever be Drawn upon except
| In perfectly legal way.
| VISIT no THE VAULT.
STAR reporter, with . taste for burglary, OBJ
! tained the other day from Supervising Architect
Freret piece Of paper giving him permission to
| inspect the new vault, and was placed in the
charge OF CIVIL Engineer Edwin c. Miller the chief
draughtsman OF tnis bureau, who has practically
had entire supervision Of the work OF the con-
structl0n OF the vault. After Mr.. Miller had eau
uously o0nnea MS overcoat ana overshoes the pair
into the northeast corridor, where crowds OF clerks
were grouped around little holes In the wall buy
| ing pies and Deans and sandwiches for lunch. A
| snort flight OF winding steps led down into the
| suo-oasement, where the chill OF the outside
blizzard was intensified by dampness that soon
maoe the TWO visitors turn up their collars and
| sh1ver. A couple more turns brought them to a
! very ordinary wooden door, near which a number
one OF tSe e lfSns Of great safe This
only lew Millions the reporter was told. One
OF these men Drought the only candle the place az
FORCED, Dit OF tanOw an inch long, and the three
went through the door, which was then carefully
ciosed into perfectly dark apartment, where the
| side, being perfectly dry On the rioht rose the
foundation wall OF the building, gray granite and
on the other was The new brick wall OF the Vault.
Inc man with The bit OF light went ahead and dis
closed the door which Is to guard the millions
~ Is OF Iron, Inches In thickness and weighs
1000 pounds 1t slides into the wall on the right
clearing half Of the passage way, and REQUIRES the
strength VI nve men 70 move IT, without Inc aid of
the mecnanlcai device which IL is proposed to put
io0t Ia diameter, set an inch or so into the face
OF the door. The bolts are on the left hand or
east END OF the aoor and tit into slots in massive
Iron iet INTO the wall on That aide the door going
nearly foot into the lace OF the wall They are
moved into place by turn or a large handle in
Tue center OF The brass plate, and when once shot
cannot be turned back Without the use of a small
Key That hts into very Ordinary looking key-hoie
on Tue upper RIM OF the plate. This lock is said TO
ity. ~ ~@ VII
THE INTERIOR VAULT
once inside the door the vault looks very much
like Jail room, except That on this occasion Il was
impossible to see half dozen feet away owing to the
feeble light Of the candle. The wallis are hollow
and are now entirely dry, II Is intended tn RIM
steam pipes through from the main Blu ding and
10 place ncandescent lamps around the room 30
Is TO be stored In IL cells, or rooms arranged In
two rows OF each, separated by u passage way
ABOUT adcMl isel wide; with a door from each
OF Iron lattice work, OF strips about quarter of an
Inch thick Al tine corners OF each room is an iron
column formed Dy rvetieg together four pieces OF
iron shaped like a letter l. and about 15 feet long
These bear the entire weight OF tue arches and
Directly support series OF iron crOss-beams or
found its way into circulation that the weight of
the roof had buged the lattice work, thus indicat
ing an early collapse OF this storehouse for the
the lattice does not quite reach the roof and tine
"oulg1ng" was the result OF The work OF riyeting.
Mr.. Miller thinks that the columns are Capable
OF bearing weight eight times heavier than that
winch now exists. The dimensions Of the vault,
outside measurement, are 90. 10 feet BY 97S This
gives surface area Of 5,S77.7S square feet, Ac-
coroing TO the nearest calculations the weight
square foot, and thus there Is a total weight OF
SS1 ,667 pounds.
HOW THE DOLLARS WILL BE STORED
Each room Is 20 feet by 10, and about Ii feet
high. The silver dollars will be stored In boxes
and IN such a way that in the end OF the room
farthest from the door they win be piled hgh and
grading down TO the entrance. 1t Is expected that
each room Will contain eight million II piled close
TO the top OF the arches. This will make the total
accommodations OF the vaults equal to SIPS. OOO..
OOO The doors OF these rooms are fitted with locks
50 cOntr1ved that the Waterman cannot take the
key out until the door has been securely locked, in
this way preventing the door being LETT atar A
three-foot passage runs around the vault, outside
the rooms, with no connection with then except
The STAR reporter tried to learn the thickness Of
the wallis and layers OF asphalt, but Mr.. Miller
was cautious, and said:
They're tnick enough,
Eyes. but how Jhick?r persisted the reporter
swell, about 50 ihick-the waiis!" with a wave OF
tne hanus lhat Included anything from six-inch
stub to a f1ve-foot wall.
AT this the scribe withdrew from his attempt to
penetrate the burgiar-proof secresy that seems 70
WHAT A BURGLAR COULD DO.
III a man should get In here" remarked Mr.
Miller edging away from a small party that had
entered while the first three were going through
the rooms 81 say II a man got in her which amt
locks and guards he couldn't do much damage
He might take a thousand dollars away, PERHAPS
Two put II wouldn't pay him for his trouble It
make the experiment successful and he'd be sure
to be caught before he'd made one. You see"
pointing significantly over his shoulder at the
otner vlsltOrs, we've got more walls and locks
anE se ahs a1Gq h saan you might think for
give signs OF expiring, and the party made rapid